CHAPTERS 14-26
JEREMIAH#14
1 ¶ The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning
the dearth.
2 Judah mourneth,
and the gates thereof languish; they are black unto the ground; and the cry of
Jerusalem is gone up.
3 And their
nobles have sent their little ones to the waters: they came to the pits, and found no water; they returned with their vessels empty; they
were ashamed and confounded, and covered their heads.
4 Because the
ground is chapt, for there was no rain in the earth, the plowmen were ashamed,
they covered their heads.
5 Yea, the hind
also calved in the field, and forsook it, because there was no grass.
6
And the wild asses did stand in the high places, they snuffed up the
wind like dragons; their eyes did fail, because there was no grass.
7 O LORD, though
our iniquities testify against us, do thou it for thy name's sake: for our
backslidings are many; we have sinned against thee.
8 O the hope of
Israel, the saviour thereof in time of trouble, why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man that turneth
aside to tarry for a night?
9 Why shouldest
thou be as a man astonied, as a mighty man that cannot save? yet thou, O LORD,
art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name; leave us not.
10 ¶ Thus saith the LORD unto this people, Thus have they
loved to wander, they have not refrained their feet, therefore
the LORD doth not accept them; he will now remember their iniquity, and visit
their sins.
11 Then said the
LORD unto me, Pray not for this people for their good.
12 When they
fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an
oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.
13 Then said I,
Ah, Lord GOD! behold, the prophets say unto them, Ye shall not see the sword,
neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.
14 Then the LORD
said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them
not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto
you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of
their heart.
15 Therefore thus
saith the LORD concerning the prophets that prophesy in my name, and I sent
them not, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land; By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed.
16 And the people
to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of
the famine and the sword; and they shall have none to bury them, them, their
wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters: for I will pour their wickedness
upon them.
17 ¶ Therefore thou shalt say this word
unto them; Let mine eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not
cease: for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with
a very grievous blow.
18 If I go forth
into the field, then behold the slain with the sword! and if I enter into the
city, then behold them that are sick with famine! yea, both the prophet and the priest go about into a land that they know not.
19 Hast thou
utterly rejected Judah? hath thy soul lothed Zion? why hast thou smitten us,
and there is no healing for us? we looked for peace, and there is no good; and
for the time of healing, and behold trouble!
20 We
acknowledge, O LORD, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers: for we have sinned against thee.
21 Do not abhor
us, for thy name's sake, do not disgrace the throne of thy glory: remember,
break not thy covenant with us.
22 Are there any
among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? or can the heavens give
showers? art not thou he, O LORD our God? therefore we will wait upon
thee: for thou hast made all these things.
1 ¶ Then said the LORD unto me, Though Moses and Samuel
stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this people: cast them out of
my sight, and let them go forth.
2
And it shall come to pass, if they say unto thee, Whither shall we go
forth? then thou shalt tell them, Thus saith the LORD; Such as are for death,
to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the
famine, to the famine; and such as are for the captivity, to the captivity.
3 And I will
appoint over them four kinds, saith the LORD: the sword to slay, and the dogs to tear, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of
the earth, to devour and destroy.
4 And I will
cause them to be removed into all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh
the son of Hezekiah king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.
5 For who shall
have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem? or who shall bemoan thee? or who
shall go aside to ask how thou doest?
6 Thou hast
forsaken me, saith the LORD, thou art gone backward: therefore will I stretch
out my hand against thee, and destroy thee; I am weary with repenting.
7 And I will fan
them with a fan in the gates of the land; I will bereave them of children, I
will destroy my people, since they return not from their ways.
8
Their widows are increased to me above the sand of the seas: I have
brought upon them against the mother of the young men a spoiler at noonday: I
have caused him to fall upon it suddenly, and terrors upon the city.
9 She that hath
borne seven languisheth: she hath given up the ghost; her sun is gone down
while it was yet day: she hath been ashamed and confounded: and the residue of them will I deliver to the sword before their
enemies, saith the LORD.
10 ¶ Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man
of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent on
usury, nor men have lent to me on usury; yet every one of them doth curse me.
11 The LORD said,
Verily it shall be well with thy remnant; verily I will cause the enemy to entreat thee well in the time of evil and in the time
of affliction.
12 Shall iron
break the northern iron and the steel?
13 Thy substance
and thy treasures will I give to the spoil without price, and that for all thy
sins, even in all thy borders.
14 And I will
make thee to pass with thine enemies into a land which thou knowest not: for a fire is kindled in mine anger, which shall burn upon
you.
15 ¶ O LORD, thou knowest: remember me, and visit me, and
revenge me of my persecutors; take me not away in thy longsuffering: know that
for thy sake I have suffered rebuke.
16 Thy words were
found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and
rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.
17 I sat not in
the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of thy hand: for
thou hast filled me with indignation.
18 Why is my pain
perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuseth to be healed? wilt thou be
altogether unto me as a liar, and as waters that fail?
19
Therefore thus saith the LORD, If thou return, then will I bring thee
again, and thou shalt stand before me: and if thou take forth the precious from
the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth: let them return unto thee; but return not
thou unto them.
20 And I will
make thee unto this people a fenced brasen wall: and they shall fight against
thee, but they shall not prevail against thee: for I am with thee to save thee and to deliver thee, saith the LORD.
21 And I will
deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the
hand of the terrible.
1 ¶ The word of the LORD came also unto me, saying,
2
Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons or
daughters in this place.
3 For thus saith the
LORD concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that are born in this
place, and concerning their mothers that bare them, and concerning their
fathers that begat them in this land;
4
They shall die of grievous deaths; they shall not be lamented; neither
shall they be buried; but they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth: and
they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine; and their carcases shall be
meat for the fowls of heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.
5 For thus saith
the LORD, Enter not into the house of mourning, neither go to lament
nor bemoan them: for I have taken away my peace from this people, saith the
LORD, even lovingkindness and mercies.
6 Both the great
and the small shall die in this land: they shall not be buried, neither shall
men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them:
7
Neither shall men tear themselves for them in mourning, to comfort them
for the dead; neither shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for
their father or for their mother.
8 Thou shalt not
also go into the house of feasting, to sit with them to eat and to drink.
9
For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will
cause to cease out of this place in your eyes, and in your days, the voice of
mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of
the bride.
10 ¶ And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt shew this
people all these words, and they shall say unto thee, Wherefore hath the LORD
pronounced all this great evil against us? or what is our
iniquity? or what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?
11 Then shalt
thou say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith the LORD, and
have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them,
and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law;
12
And ye have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, ye walk every one
after the imagination of his evil heart, that they may not hearken unto me:
13 Therefore will
I cast you out of this land into a land that ye know not, neither ye nor your
fathers; and there shall ye serve other gods day and night; where I will not
shew you favour.
14 ¶ Therefore, behold, the days come,
saith the LORD, that it shall no more be said, The LORD liveth, that brought up
the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
15 But, The LORD
liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and
from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.
16 Behold, I will
send for many fishers, saith the LORD, and they shall fish them; and after will
I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from
every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.
17 For mine eyes
are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes.
18 And first I
will recompense their iniquity and their sin double; because they have defiled
my land, they have filled mine inheritance with the carcases of their
detestable and abominable things.
19 O LORD, my
strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth,
and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things
wherein there is no profit.
20 Shall a man
make gods unto himself, and they are no gods?
21 Therefore,
behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine
hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is The LORD.
1 ¶ The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and
with the point of a diamond: it is graven upon the table of their heart, and
upon the horns of your altars;
2 Whilst their
children remember their altars and their groves by the green trees upon the high
hills.
3
O my mountain in the field, I will give thy substance and all thy
treasures to the spoil, and thy high places for sin, throughout all thy
borders.
4 And thou, even
thyself, shalt discontinue from thine heritage that I gave thee; and I will cause
thee to serve thine enemies in the land which thou knowest not: for ye have
kindled a fire in mine anger, which shall burn for ever.
5 ¶ Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the
man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from
the LORD.
6 For he shall be
like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall
inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.
7
Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD
is.
8 For he shall be
as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river,
and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not
be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
9 The heart is
deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
10
I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man
according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.
11 As the
partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not; so he that getteth riches,
and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end
shall be a fool.
12 ¶ A glorious high throne from the
beginning is the place of our sanctuary.
13 O LORD, the
hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart
from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the
fountain of living waters.
14 Heal me, O
LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise.
15 Behold, they
say unto me, Where is the word of the LORD? let it come now.
16 As for me, I
have not hastened from being a pastor to follow thee: neither have I desired
the woeful day; thou knowest: that which came out of my lips was right before
thee.
17
Be not a terror unto me: thou art my hope in the day of evil.
18 Let them be
confounded that persecute me, but let not me be confounded: let them be
dismayed, but let not me be dismayed: bring upon them the day of evil, and
destroy them with double destruction.
19 ¶ Thus said the LORD unto me; Go and stand in the gate
of the children of the people, whereby the kings of Judah
come in, and by the which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem;
20 And say unto
them, Hear ye the word of the LORD, ye kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all
the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that enter in by these gates:
21 Thus saith the
LORD; Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the sabbath
day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem;
22 Neither carry
forth a burden out of your houses on the sabbath day, neither do ye any work,
but hallow ye the sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers.
23 But they
obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they
might not hear, nor receive instruction.
24
And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently hearken unto me, saith the
LORD, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the sabbath day,
but hallow the sabbath day, to do no work therein;
25 Then shall
there enter into the gates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the
throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their princes, the
men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and this city
shall remain for ever.
26 And they shall
come from the cities of Judah, and from the places about Jerusalem, and from
the land of Benjamin, and from the plain, and from the mountains, and from the
south, bringing burnt offerings, and sacrifices, and meat offerings, and
incense, and bringing sacrifices of praise, unto the house of the LORD.
27 But if ye will
not hearken unto me to hallow the sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, even
entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day; then will I kindle a
fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it
shall not be quenched.
1 ¶ The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD,
saying,
2 Arise, and go
down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.
3 Then I went
down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.
4 And the vessel
that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again
another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
5 Then the word
of the LORD came to me, saying,
6 O house of
Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O
house of Israel.
7 At what instant
I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and
to pull down, and to destroy it;
8 If that nation,
against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil
that I thought to do unto them.
9
And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a
kingdom, to build and to plant it;
10 If it do evil
in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good,
wherewith I said I would benefit them.
11 ¶ Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and
to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD;
Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye
now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.
12 And they said,
There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one
do the imagination of his evil heart.
13
Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ask ye now among the heathen, who hath
heard such things: the virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing.
14 Will a man
leave the snow of Lebanon which cometh from the rock of the field? or shall the
cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken?
15 Because my
people hath forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient
paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up;
16 To make their
land desolate, and a perpetual hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be
astonished, and wag his head.
17 I will scatter
them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will shew them the back,
and not the face, in the day of their calamity.
18 ¶ Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices
against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel
from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with
the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.
19
Give heed to me, O LORD, and hearken to the voice of them that contend
with me.
20 Shall evil be
recompensed for good? for they have digged a pit for my soul. Remember that I
stood before thee to speak good for them, and to turn away thy wrath from them.
21
Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and pour out their
blood by the force of the sword; and let their wives be bereaved of their
children, and be widows; and let their men be put to death; let their young men
be slain by the sword in battle.
22 Let a cry be
heard from their houses, when thou shalt bring a troop suddenly upon
them: for they have digged a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet.
23 Yet, LORD,
thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay me: forgive not their
iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight, but let them be overthrown
before thee; deal thus with them in the time of thine anger.
1 ¶ Thus saith the LORD, Go and get a
potter's earthen bottle, and take of the ancients of the people, and of the
ancients of the priests;
2 And go forth
unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the east gate,
and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee,
3 And say, Hear
ye the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem;
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring evil upon
this place, the which whosoever heareth, his ears shall tingle.
4 Because they
have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it
unto other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings
of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents;
5
They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with
fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it,
neither came it into my mind:
6 Therefore,
behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that this place shall no more be called
Tophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter.
7
And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place;
and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the
hands of them that seek their lives: and their carcases will I give to be meat
for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.
8 And I will make
this city desolate, and an hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues thereof.
9 And I will
cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and
they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend in the siege and straitness,
wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall straiten them.
10 ¶ Then shalt thou break the bottle
in the sight of the men that go with thee,
11 And shalt say
unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Even so will I break this people and
this city, as one breaketh a potter's vessel, that cannot be made whole again:
and they shall bury them in Tophet, till there be no place to bury.
12 Thus will I do
unto this place, saith the LORD, and to the inhabitants thereof, and
even make this city as Tophet:
13 And the houses
of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be defiled as the
place of Tophet, because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned
incense unto all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink offerings unto
other gods.
14
Then came Jeremiah from Tophet, whither the LORD had sent him to
prophesy; and he stood in the court of the LORD'S house; and said to all the
people,
15 Thus saith the
LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon
all her towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have
hardened their necks, that they might not hear my words.
1 ¶ Now Pashur the son of Immer the priest, who was also
chief governor in the house of the LORD, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these
things.
2 Then Pashur
smote Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the high
gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the LORD.
3
And it came to pass on the morrow, that Pashur brought forth Jeremiah
out of the stocks. Then said Jeremiah unto him, The LORD hath not called thy
name Pashur, but Magormissabib.
4 For thus saith
the LORD, Behold, I will make thee a terror to thyself, and to all thy friends:
and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and thine eyes shall behold it: and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king
of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive into Babylon, and shall slay them
with the sword.
5 Moreover I will
deliver all the strength of this city, and all the labours thereof, and all the
precious things thereof, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah will I
give into the hand of their enemies, which shall spoil them, and take them, and
carry them to Babylon.
6 And thou,
Pashur, and all that dwell in thine house shall go into captivity: and thou
shalt come to Babylon, and there thou shalt die, and shalt be buried there,
thou, and all thy friends, to whom thou hast prophesied lies.
7 ¶ O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived:
thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in
derision daily, every one mocketh me.
8 For since I
spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the LORD
was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily.
9 Then I said, I
will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was
in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.
10 For I heard
the defaming of many, fear on every side. Report, say they, and we will report
it. All my familiars watched for my halting, saying, Peradventure he will be
enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on
him.
11 But the LORD
is with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my persecutors shall
stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they
shall not prosper: their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten.
12 But, O LORD of
hosts, that triest the righteous, and seest the reins and the heart, let me see
thy vengeance on them: for unto thee have I opened my cause.
13 Sing unto the
LORD, praise ye the LORD: for he hath delivered the soul of the poor
from the hand of evildoers.
14 ¶ Cursed be the day wherein I was born: let not the
day wherein my mother bare me be blessed.
15 Cursed be the
man who brought tidings to my father, saying, A man child is born unto thee;
making him very glad.
16
And let that man be as the cities which the LORD overthrew, and repented
not: and let him hear the cry in the morning, and the shouting at noontide;
17 Because he
slew me not from the womb; or that my mother might have been my grave, and her
womb to be always great with me.
18 Wherefore came
I forth out of the womb to see labour and sorrow, that my days should
be consumed with shame?
1 ¶ The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, when
king Zedekiah sent unto him Pashur the son of Melchiah, and Zephaniah the son
of Maaseiah the priest, saying,
2
Enquire, I pray thee, of the LORD for us; for Nebuchadrezzar king of
Babylon maketh war against us; if so be that the LORD will deal with us
according to all his wondrous works, that he may go up from us.
3 Then said
Jeremiah unto them, Thus shall ye say to Zedekiah:
4 Thus saith the
LORD God of Israel; Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that
are in your hands, wherewith ye fight against the king of Babylon, and against
the Chaldeans, which besiege you without the walls, and I will assemble them
into the midst of this city.
5 And I myself
will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in
anger, and in fury, and in great wrath.
6
And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast: they
shall die of a great pestilence.
7 And afterward, saith
the LORD, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the
people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword,
and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those
that seek their life: and he shall smite them with the edge of the sword; he
shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy.
8 ¶ And unto this people thou shalt say, Thus saith the
LORD; Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death.
9
He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine,
and by the pestilence: but he that goeth out, and falleth to the Chaldeans that
besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey.
10 For I have set
my face against this city for evil, and not for good, saith the LORD: it shall
be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.
11 And touching
the house of the king of Judah, say, Hear ye the word of the LORD;
12 O house of
David, thus saith the LORD; Execute judgment in the morning, and deliver him
that is spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my fury go out like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of
your doings.
13 Behold, I am
against thee, O inhabitant of the valley, and rock of the plain, saith the
LORD; which say, Who shall come down against us? or who shall enter into our
habitations?
14 But I will
punish you according to the fruit of your doings, saith the LORD: and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof, and it shall devour
all things round about it.
1 ¶ Thus saith the LORD; Go down to the house of the king
of Judah, and speak there this word,
2 And say, Hear
the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, that sittest upon the throne
of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people that enter in by these gates:
3 Thus saith the
LORD; Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the
hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless,
nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.
4 For if ye do
this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and
on horses, he, and his servants, and his people.
5 But if ye will
not hear these words, I swear by myself, saith the LORD, that this house shall
become a desolation.
6 For thus saith
the LORD unto the king's house of Judah; Thou art Gilead unto me,
and the head of Lebanon: yet surely I will make thee a wilderness, and cities
which are not inhabited.
7 And I will
prepare destroyers against thee, every one with his weapons: and they shall cut
down thy choice cedars, and cast them into the fire.
8 And many
nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbour, Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this great
city?
9 Then they shall
answer, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God, and
worshipped other gods, and served them.
10 ¶ Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him: but
weep sore for him that goeth away: for he shall return no more, nor see his
native country.
11
For thus saith the LORD touching Shallum the son of Josiah king of
Judah, which reigned instead of Josiah his father, which went forth out of this
place; He shall not return thither any more:
12 But he shall
die in the place whither they have led him captive, and shall see this land no
more.
13
Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his
chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour's service without wages, and giveth
him not for his work;
14 That saith, I
will build me a wide house and large chambers, and cutteth him out windows; and
it is cieled with cedar, and painted with vermilion.
15
Shalt thou reign, because thou closest thyself in cedar? did not thy
father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and then it was well with
him?
16 He judged the
cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him: was not this to know
me? saith the LORD.
17 But thine eyes
and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it.
18 Therefore thus
saith the LORD concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah; They shall
not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they shall not lament
for him, saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory!
19 He shall be
buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
20 ¶ Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up thy voice in
Bashan, and cry from the passages: for all thy lovers are destroyed.
21 I spake unto
thee in thy prosperity; but thou saidst, I will not hear. This hath been thy
manner from thy youth, that thou obeyedst not my voice.
22
The wind shall eat up all thy pastors, and thy lovers shall go into
captivity: surely then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded for all thy
wickedness.
23 O inhabitant
of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars, how gracious shalt thou be when
pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail!
24 As I live,
saith the LORD, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were
the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence;
25 And I will
give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life, and into the hand of them
whose face thou fearest, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon,
and into the hand of the Chaldeans.
26 And I will
cast thee out, and thy mother that bare thee, into another country, where ye were not born; and there shall ye die.
27 But to the
land whereunto they desire to return, thither shall they not return.
28 Is this man
Coniah a despised broken idol? is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? wherefore
are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know
not?
29
O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD.
30 Thus saith the
LORD, Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days:
for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and
ruling any more in Judah.
1 ¶ Woe be unto the pastors that
destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD.
2 Therefore thus
saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have
scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I
will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD.
3
And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I
have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be
fruitful and increase.
4 And I will set
up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor
be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the LORD.
5
Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a
righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute
judgment and justice in the earth.
6 In his days
Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name
whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
7
Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they shall no
more say, The LORD liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the
land of Egypt;
8 But, The LORD
liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of
the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they
shall dwell in their own land.
9 ¶ Mine heart within me is broken
because of the prophets; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like
a man whom wine hath overcome, because of the LORD, and because of the words of
his holiness.
10 For the land
is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourneth; the pleasant
places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their force is not right.
11 For both
prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness,
saith the LORD.
12 Wherefore
their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness: they shall be
driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, saith the LORD.
13 And I have
seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied in Baal, and caused my
people Israel to err.
14 I have seen
also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and
walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as
Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.
15 Therefore thus
saith the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets; Behold, I will feed them with
wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of
Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land.
16
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets
that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own
heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD.
17 They say still
unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they
say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart,
No evil shall come upon you.
18 For who hath
stood in the counsel of the LORD, and hath perceived and heard his word? who
hath marked his word, and heard it?
19 Behold, a
whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it
shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked.
20
The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have executed, and till
he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye shall
consider it perfectly.
21 I have not
sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they
prophesied.
22 But if they
had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words,
then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of
their doings.
23 Am I a God at
hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off?
24 Can any hide
himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I
fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.
25
I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name,
saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.
26 How long shall
this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets
of the deceit of their own heart;
27 Which think to
cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell
every man to his neighbour, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal.
28 The prophet
that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him
speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD.
29 Is not my word
like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in
pieces?
30
Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal
my words every one from his neighbour.
31 Behold, I am
against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use their tongues, and say, He
saith.
32 Behold, I am
against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the LORD, and do tell
them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I
sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people
at all, saith the LORD.
33 ¶ And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest,
shall ask thee, saying, What is the burden of the LORD? thou shalt then say
unto them, What burden? I will even forsake you, saith the LORD.
34 And as for the
prophet, and the priest, and the people, that shall say, The burden of the
LORD, I will even punish that man and his house.
35 Thus shall ye
say every one to his neighbour, and every one to his brother, What hath the
LORD answered? and, What hath the LORD spoken?
36
And the burden of the LORD shall ye mention no more: for every man's
word shall be his burden; for ye have perverted the words of the living God, of
the LORD of hosts our God.
37 Thus shalt thou
say to the prophet, What hath the LORD answered thee? and, What hath the LORD
spoken?
38
But since ye say, The burden of the LORD; therefore thus saith the LORD;
Because ye say this word, The burden of the LORD, and I have sent unto you,
saying, Ye shall not say, The burden of the LORD;
39 Therefore,
behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you, and I will forsake you, and the
city that I gave you and your fathers, and cast you out of my presence:
40
And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual
shame, which shall not be forgotten.
1 ¶ The LORD shewed me, and, behold, two baskets of figs
were set before the temple of the LORD, after that Nebuchadrezzar king of
Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of
Jehoiakim king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the carpenters and
smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.
2 One basket had
very good figs, even like the figs that are first ripe: and the other basket
had very naughty figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad.
3 Then said the
LORD unto me, What seest thou, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs; the good
figs, very good; and the evil, very evil, that cannot be eaten, they are so
evil.
4 Again the word
of the LORD came unto me, saying,
5 Thus saith the
LORD, the God of Israel; Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that
are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the
land of the Chaldeans for their good.
6
For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again
to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant
them, and not pluck them up.
7 And I will give
them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and
I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.
8 And as the evil
figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so evil; surely thus saith the LORD, So
will I give Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of
Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt:
9 And I will
deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in
all places whither I shall drive them.
10 And I will
send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be
consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers.
1 ¶ The word that came to Jeremiah
concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of
Josiah king of Judah, that was the first year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon;
2 The which
Jeremiah the prophet spake unto all the people of Judah, and to all the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying,
3
From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, even unto
this day, that is the three and twentieth year, the word of the LORD hath come
unto me, and I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye have not
hearkened.
4 And the LORD
hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending
them; but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear.
5
They said, Turn ye again now every one from his evil way, and from the
evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD hath given unto you
and to your fathers for ever and ever:
6 And go not
after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke me not to
anger with the works of your hands; and I will do you no hurt.
7
Yet ye have not hearkened unto me, saith the LORD; that ye might provoke
me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt.
8 ¶ Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Because ye
have not heard my words,
9 Behold, I will
send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar
the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these
nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an
astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations.
10 Moreover I
will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of
the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle.
11 And this whole
land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve
the king of Babylon seventy years.
12 And it shall
come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king
of Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.
13 And I will
bring upon that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, even all
that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the
nations.
14 For many
nations and great kings shall serve themselves of them also: and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the
works of their own hands.
15 ¶ For thus saith the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take
the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send
thee, to drink it.
16 And they shall
drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will
send among them.
17 Then took I
the cup at the LORD'S hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the
LORD had sent me:
18 To wit,
Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes
thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse;
as it is this day;
19 Pharaoh king
of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people;
20 And all the
mingled people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the
land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Azzah, and Ekron, and the remnant of
Ashdod,
21
Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon,
22 And all the
kings of Tyrus, and all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the isles which
are beyond the sea,
23 Dedan, and
Tema, and Buz, and all that are in the utmost corners,
24 And all the
kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mingled people that dwell in the desert,
25 And all the
kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes,
26 And all the
kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the
world, which are upon the face of the earth: and the king of Sheshach
shall drink after them.
27 Therefore thou
shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Drink ye,
and be drunken, and spue, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword
which I will send among you.
28 And it shall
be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ye shall
certainly drink.
29 For, lo, I
begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be
utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword
upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the LORD of hosts.
30 ¶ Therefore prophesy thou against them all these
words, and say unto them, The LORD shall roar from on high,
and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his
habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all
the inhabitants of the earth.
31 A noise shall
come even to the ends of the earth; for the LORD hath a controversy with the nations,
he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked
to the sword, saith the LORD.
32 Thus saith the
LORD of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great
whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.
33 And the slain
of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other
end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground.
34 Howl, ye
shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves in the ashes, ye principal of the
flock: for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are accomplished;
and ye shall fall like a pleasant vessel.
35 And the
shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal of the flock to escape.
36 A voice of the
cry of the shepherds, and an howling of the principal of the flock, shall be
heard: for the LORD hath spoiled their pasture.
37 And the
peaceable habitations are cut down because of the fierce anger of the LORD.
38
He hath forsaken his covert, as the lion: for their land is desolate
because of the fierceness of the oppressor, and because of his fierce anger.
1 ¶ In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of
Josiah king of Judah came this word from the LORD, saying,
2
Thus saith the LORD; Stand in the court of the LORD'S house, and speak
unto all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the LORD'S house, all
the words that I command thee to speak unto them; diminish not a word:
3 If so be they
will hearken, and turn every man from his evil way, that I may repent me of the
evil, which I purpose to do unto them because of the evil of their doings.
4 And thou shalt
say unto them, Thus saith the LORD; If ye will not hearken to me, to walk in my
law, which I have set before you,
5 To hearken to
the words of my servants the prophets, whom I sent unto you, both rising up
early, and sending them, but ye have not hearkened;
6
Then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse
to all the nations of the earth.
7 ¶ So the priests and the prophets and all the people
heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the LORD.
8 Now it came to
pass, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the LORD
had commanded him to speak unto all the people, that the priests and the
prophets and all the people took him, saying, Thou shalt surely die.
9 Why hast thou
prophesied in the name of the LORD, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh,
and this city shall be desolate without an inhabitant? And all the people were
gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the LORD.
10
When the princes of Judah heard these things, then they came up from the
king's house unto the house of the LORD, and sat down in the entry of the new
gate of the LORD'S house.
11 Then spake the
priests and the prophets unto the princes and to all the people, saying, This
man is worthy to die; for he hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your ears.
12 Then spake
Jeremiah unto all the princes and to all the people, saying, The LORD sent me
to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that ye have
heard.
13 Therefore now
amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the LORD
your God; and the LORD will repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced
against you.
14 As for me, behold,
I am in your hand: do with me as seemeth good and meet unto you.
15 But know ye
for certain, that if ye put me to death, ye shall surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon this city, and upon the inhabitants
thereof: for of a truth the LORD hath sent me unto you to speak all these words
in your ears.
16 ¶ Then said the princes and all the people unto the
priests and to the prophets; This man is not worthy to die: for he hath spoken
to us in the name of the LORD our God.
17
Then rose up certain of the elders of the land, and spake to all the
assembly of the people, saying,
18 Micah the
Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spake to all
the people of Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Zion shall be plowed
like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.
19 Did Hezekiah
king of Judah and all Judah put him at all to death? did he not fear the LORD,
and besought the LORD, and the LORD repented him of the evil which he had
pronounced against them? Thus might we procure great evil against our souls.
20
And there was also a man that prophesied in the name of the LORD, Urijah
the son of Shemaiah of Kirjathjearim, who prophesied against this city and
against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah:
21 And when
Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men, and all the princes, heard his
words, the king sought to put him to death: but when Urijah heard it, he was afraid, and fled, and went into Egypt;
22 And Jehoiakim
the king sent men into Egypt, namely, Elnathan the son of Achbor, and certain
men with him into Egypt.
23 And they
fetched forth Urijah out of Egypt, and brought him unto Jehoiakim the king; who
slew him with the sword, and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people.
24 Nevertheless
the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, that they should not
give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.